I can forget what year I left home, when I got married or divorced, when my next dental appointment is. I forget the date when the Berlin Wall fell, when my heart was first broken, when I first published something I wrote. I remember whole passages, though, from books and poems that really spoke to me.
"No one understood my wild and secret ways. They used to say Lulu Lamartine was like a cat, loving no one, only purring to get what she wanted. But that's not true. I was in love with the whole world and all that lived in its rainy arms. Sometimes I'd look out on my yard and the green leaves would be glowing. I'd see the oil slick on the wing of a grackle. I'd hear the wind rushing, rolling, like the far-off sound of waterfalls. Then I'd open my mouth, my ears wide, my heart, and I'd let everything inside. …
And so when they tell you that I was heartless, a shameless man-chaser, don't ever forget this: I loved what I saw. And yes, it is true that I've done all the things they say. That's not what gets them. What aggravates them is I've never shed one solitary tear. I'm not sorry. That's unnatural. As we all know a woman is supposed to cry."
Love Medicine
-Louise Erdrich
